The precursor to “Humongous” and “Castle Freak”
After several 20-somethings meet a woman in Athens, they venture to a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea that’s mostly deserted. But why? Will any of them make it out alive?
“Antropophagus” (1980) is the Italian spelling, but some versions render it “Anthropophagus” (with some adding “The Beast”). It’s also called “The Savage Island” and “The Grim Reaper” (a lousy, unfitting name) with most versions of the latter censoring out the two grisliest scenes.
It features fabulous Mediterranean locations and successfully creates a quality creepy mood, but the proceedings and characters are generally dull, similar to the dramatic tone of “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death” from nine years prior. It doesn’t help that the director didn’t know how to shoot women, at least not at this time. The two aforementioned grisly scenes are shocking, particularly for the time, but a movie (even a horror slasher) needs more than that to sustain interest.
Canada’s “Humongous” took the template and made an all-around more entertaining movie a year & four months later. “Castle Freak” borrowed from it significantly and also made a superior film fourteen years later.
Zora Kerova stands out in the feminine department as Carol, followed by Rubina Rey as Ruth, the sister of ‘the beast.’ Tisa Farrow plays the main protagonist, Julie; she was the younger sister of Mia and retired from acting after this film. She happened to pass away at the beginning of this year.
George Eastman plays the hulking beast (his birth name was Luigi Montefiori). He stands a towering 6′6¾″.
The full-length version runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot in in Athens, Greece, with the rest of the film shot in the Bay of Cala Feola on Ponza Island, which is off the coast of western Italy, and Sperlonga in Lazio standing in for the deserted village, both of which are located halfway between Rome and Naples.
GRADE: B-
